Mysterious Disappearances Chapter 21

By Nirupama Akella

They
sat in their small office, all twenty of them, in their dark suits- huddled
together drinking numerous cups of tea. Singh scowled at no one in particular
and puffed at his seventh cigarette of the hour! This was bad- three dead
bodies- all of them brutally struck on the head by someone who had wanted the
basement and consequently the gold to remain a secret! He twirled his
moustache- it had been a tough three hours with properly sealing the building-
informing Sue Danely and getting her full cooperation- she herself

had no idea that the Old
Church had a basement and had been shocked and appalled at the sight of the
dead bodies- she had even cried when she had heard that Shiksha Malhotra had
been struck brutally on the head with a sharp object and left to die in that
cold dusty basement! According to her, none of the staff- teaching and non
teaching knew the existence of a basement in the Old Church- with the exception
of Sister of course! Sister Prudence had to have known about a basement because
she had been in charge of the Old Wing and the auditorium along with her
teaching responsibilities before becoming Principal- and had in her possession
the blueprint of the Old Wing and the main building! Following his lengthy
informative conversation with Matron, he had sent down the Constable and some
of his men down to the coroner’s office to get the details of the murders and
then write a detailed report! This he had thoroughly read and then, had come
the most difficult part! Facing the relatives of Shiksha Malhotra- he knew then
very well, the uncle and the grandmother- and when they had left crying- he had
rung up his bosom buddy, the Chief Election Commissioner of India and briefly
talked with him, promising to catch the murderer soon! He sighed- he had read
through all the reports compiled since the beginning of these disappearances!
They had all been related- all had discovered the basement, and been killed
because someone did not want the
basement to be discovered and the gold! About Ghosh, he still was not sure!
Ghosh had recently come into a lot of wealth! He had said that the money had
come because of a lottery, but according to the report there had been no
indication that Ghosh had ever entered a lottery competition in Dehradun this
year at all! It was more likely that he had been milking the basement for his wealth, but then
he too had been discovered and killed in the same fashion! Inspector Chauhan
came into the room, and sat down facing Singh and began, ‘Sister wants to know
what is happening, Sir!’

‘I though she had gone out
and was coming back in the evening!’

‘Well…I don’t know but she
is back and badgering me with questions…she was stopped from entering the Old
Church by your men…and now she wants to know what is going on…!,’ Inspector
Chauhan paused expectantly, ‘What shall I tell her Sir?’

‘That you are following my
orders, Inspector….tell me does she often go alone to the Old Church?’

‘Almost every day…….’

‘Hmm…….. tell Sister if she
any questions, she should come and see me but no one, and I mean it, NO ONE IS
TO ENTER THE OLD CHURCH!’

Inspector Chauhan went out
feeling very much like a messenger boy going into the presence of a dragon.
Singh stroked his long moustache and thoought for a second before calling out
to his assistant, ‘Jay, tell those two girls to come and see me now!’

‘Which ones, Sir?’

‘Oh, those ones who lived in
the same room with Malhotra in the hostel!’

‘Now Sir?’

Singh glanced at his watch-
quarter to two! Lectures should have finished by now!”

‘Sir!’, the man nodded and
smartly turned on his heel walking out of the hall.

The clock in the corridor of
the main building chimed four in the faint darkness- the sun rays stealing over
the royal blue studded with stars! The moon had long ago shied away into the
depths of the sky and now the sun was busily planning his entry to herald
another new day!

Four o’ clock in the morning
and all was still in the college- the buildings stood dark and forbidding
casting their ominous shadows on the pale lighted flowered paths. All were
still sound asleep and there was no movement- everything was still and quiet as
two CID men in dark suits entered the Old Wing and went down to the basement
and waited patiently!

Quarter past four, Parul
Desai climbed into her jeans and running shoes and put on her spectacles.
Despite the early hour she was wide awake and alert. The room door opened
gently and Lata Naidu dressed in a similar fashion walked in, bearing two mugs
of steaming hot coffee. Parul checked the wire and pressed it closer to her
chest- the faces of both the girls were tense and frightened.

Upstairs, Matron and Gayatri
Raghav were in their respective rooms, staring anxiously at their watches with
white tensed faces. They were fully dressed- Matron in her usual pale brown
sari with hair tied at the back threw one last glance at her wrist watch-- it was precisely 4.20a.m. She softly left her room in her rubber
soled shoes and hurried towards Gayatri Ragahv’s corner room, down the hall,
tapping gently twice on the wooden door. The door opened with surprising
swiftness to reveal Gayatri in an unusual form of garb- one that she never wore
to her lectures- tight faded jeans and black jacket! Nodding at Sue Danely,
Gayatri closed the door behind her and hurried downstairs.

Outside the Old Wing, Junior
Constable Pathak rubbed his eyes and yawned- but then shut his mouth as a blue
shirted expert joined him behind the bushes….’ Has anybody gone in yet?’

‘Yes, CID I think!’

‘Good,’ the expert rubbed
his hands excitedly, ‘time for action then! Pretty soon the murderer will go in
as well- Singh is counting on that!’

‘Do you know who it is?’

‘NO! But I do remember Singh
saying that it was somebody inside the college!’

Pathak said nothing- he was hungry and tired of sitting and
watching for an hour now- he was no owl! But Singh had drilled in his
murder theory so well to all of them that they had been all fired up with
determination to catch the murderer the very next day. Of course, to arrive at
his theory, it had taken Singh the entire yesterday afternoon and several
interviews with unlikely people- he had been totally surprised to see the
secretary coming out of his office at five in the evening. And then they had
all been summoned into his office where Singh had finally shared with all of
them his astounding theory and assumption. Then he and the Inspector had spent
another two hours locked in discussion with Sue Danely and when he had been
getting ready to leave and go home, they had been told a plan- the trap to
catch the murderer! But No, he didn’t
know the murderer, and as far as he could tell, most of the experts didn’t know
either! All he knew was that the murderer was expected to come to the Old
Church at four in the morning to dig up more gold! The bodies had been removed
and dummies had been placed in the exact original positions to fool the
murderer that nothing had been discovered yet! But the hole in the brick wall
had been wiped clean- Singh had assured them that the murderer would not get
that far! Pathak sighed- it was frustrating not to know- only Singh, the
Inspector and the CID men knew which was only a handful of them! Pathak shifted
his weight- Singh had better to what he
planned to do fast or the murderer would discover that his or her dirty deeds
had been found and slip from their grasp! Then he sat up alert, his sharp ears
heard whispers! Four shadowy figures were approaching the building. Pathak
moved but his partner restrained him- obviously he knew that they were a part
of Singh’s great plan. The four shadows entered the building and disappeared
from sight. In the distance, the Banyan swished softly.

‘Are you sure you can do
this?’, asked Lata for the tenth time- she was nervous running her hand through
her hair.

‘Is it on?’, asked Gayatri,
no trace of any sort of emotion on her white pinched face.

‘OK, Lets get this show on
the road!’, said Parul smiling bravely, ‘Are you absolutely certain that they
are going to be there?’

‘Parul’, said Matron gently,
‘Just remember what Mr. Singh said- he just wants you to say something and then they will be right behind you all
the time!’

‘I don’t see them!’

‘They must be here
somewhere!’

‘OK, I am ready!’

Lata Naidu wiped her clammy
hands on the back of her jeans and leaned under the pulpit to see the wooden
small panel. A hand came up and tapped her on the shoulder. She froze and
Singh’s rough raspy voice whispered, ‘I will do it! We are here, OK!’ Lata
breathed in deeply- she had been afraid that the police would never show up as
proposed as Singh continued softly, ‘The CID are in there already,’ turning and
looking at the tall girl, ‘You don’t have to do this/!’

‘Hey, I volunteered……. And
its fine…besides you are going to be there!’

‘Right behind you…….,’ he
paused, ‘I admire your guts! You don’t have to do this!’

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